Indigenous groups on either side of the political border are uniting against Hydro-Quebec’s plans to build a transmission line to Massachusetts.

The Labrador Innu and Innu in Quebec are among those supporting the Penobscot Nation of Maine in writing both the White House and Prime Minister of Canada to denounce Hydro-Quebec’s plan to building a transmission line through Maine to Massachusetts.

Together, the groups are asking US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau to halt initiatives that “would see the state-owned utility make billions of dollars in profits without consulting or compensating the First Nations on whose ancestral land the electricity is produced and through which it will be transported.”

Innu Nation Grand Chief Etienne Rich is among those Indigenous leaders expressing regret that they are forced to ask the highest American authorities to ensure their rights are respected when the Canadian and Quebec governments should be doing so on their behalf.